sāmānyataḥ kiñcid idaṁ mayoktaṁ
vaktuṁ viśeṣeṇa na śakyate tat |
premā tu kṛṣṇe vraja-yoṣitāṁ yas
tat-tattvam ākhyātum alaṁ kathaṁ syām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.231)
“This much [about prema] is said by me in general. I am not able to describe that in depth. Indeed how would I be able to describe the essential nature of the prema for Kṛṣṇa of the ladies of Vraja?”
gurubhir api niṣiddhā tām ahaṁ yāvad akṣṇoḥ
padam anayam ananta-śreyasāṁ sadma rādhām |
tṛṣitam iva mano me prekṣate tanvi tāvad
diśi diśi viharantīṁ śyāmalāṁ śālabhañjīm ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.27)
“[A gopī newly arrived near Vṛṣabhānupura:]
O slender one [i.e., O Sakhī],
Although forbidden by elders,
Ever since I brought that Abode of infinite virtue,
Rādhā,
Onto the path of my eyes,
My mind,
As though thirsty,
Sees a sporting swarthy figure
In every direction.”
yadyapi śrī-nanda-yaśodādi-sadṛśa-bhāvenāpi śrī-goloko labhyate, tathāpi prāyo gopī-sadṛśa-bhāvenaiva tatra sarvathā manoratha-sampūrtyā phala-viśeṣaḥ sampadyata iti gopīnām utkarṣa-viśeṣo’tra varṇitaḥ |
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.203)
“Although Śrī Goloka is attainable also by means of bhāva akin to that of blessed Nanda, Yaśodā, and others, still because of the fulfillment of desires in all respects there [i.e., in Śrī Goloka] only by means of bhāva akin to that of the gopīs, a special result is manifested [by bhāva akin to that of the gopīs specifically]. Thus, a special excellence of the gopīs is described here.”
pataty asre sāsrā bhavati pulake jāta-pulakāḥ
smite bhāti smerāḥ sumalimaṇi jāte sumalināḥ |
anāsādya svālīr mukuram abhivīkṣya sva-vadanaṁ
sukhaṁ vā duḥkhaṁ vā kim api kathanīyaṁ mṛga-dṛśaḥ ||
(Alaṅkāra-kaustubha: 3.54)
“O you all of doe-eyes, when your tears fall, they have tears [in their eyes]. When your horripilation occurs, horripilation arises in them. When you have a smile, they have smiles. When your severe dejection occurs, they become severely dejected. [But when] Not having met your own friends, what sort of happiness or sadness there is [expressed on your face] can be said [by you only] after looking at your own face in a mirror.”
kṛṣṇāṅghri-padma-makaranda-nipāna-lubdho
jānāti tad-rasa-lihāṁ paramaṁ mahattvam |
brahmaiva gokula-bhuvām ayam uddhavo’pi
gopī-gaṇasya yad imau lasataḥ sma tat tat ||
yeṣāṁ hi yad vastuni bhāti lobhas
te tadvatāṁ bhāgya-balaṁ vidanti |
gopyo mukundādhara-pāna-lubdhā
gāyanti saubhāgya-bharaṁ muralyāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.157)
“One intensely desirous of drinking the nectar of the lotus of Kṛṣṇa’s feet knows the paramount greatness of those who taste that rasa; Brahmā certainly [knows that] of those born in Gokula and he, Uddhava, [knows that] of the gopīs, since they both long for those two [i.e., since Brahmā longs for the rasa relished by those born in Gokula and Uddhava longs for the rasa relished by the gopīs]. Those who have intense desire for an object speak of the strength of the fortune of those possessed of that [object]. Intensely desirous of drinking from the lips of Mukunda, the gopīs sing of the abundance of good fortune of the flute.”
karṇākarṇi sakhī-janena vijane dūtī-stuti-prakriyā
patyur vañcana-cāturī guṇanikā kuñja-prayāṇe niśi |
bādhiryaṁ guru-vāci veṇu-virutāv utkarṇateti vratān
kaiśoreṇa tavādya kṛṣṇa guruṇā gaurī-gaṇaḥ paṭhyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.333)
“[A messenger informs Kṛṣṇa:] Whispering ear to ear with a friend,
Fine technique in praising messengers in private,
Dexterity in deception of the husband,
Steady practice of sneaking out to an arbor at night,
Deafness to the speech of elders,
Keeping the ears pricked at the sound of the flute—
O Kṛṣṇa,
Today,
With the guru of your adolescence,
Fair young women [viz., the gopīs]
Are studying all these rites.”
bibhemy asmād dhanta durbodha-līlāt
kva tat tasyāḥ sāra-saubhagya-dānam |
kva sadyo’ntardhānato rodanābdhāv
anāthāyā yātanaikākinī yā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.154)
“Hanta! I fear he of unfathomable līlā! Where is that granting of the ultimate fortune to her? And where is that solitary anguish of hers as she was helpless in an ocean of [her own] tears because of his sudden disappearance?”
aho vaidagdhī sā madhura-madhurā śrī-bhagavataḥ
samākarṣaty uccair jagati kṛtinaḥ kasya na manaḥ |
kula-strīṇāṁ tāsāṁ vana-bhuvi tathākarṣaṇam atho
tathā vāk-cāturyaṁ sapadi ruditaṁ tābhir api yat ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.151)
“Aho! What adept’s mind in this world does Śrī Bhagavān’s sweet, sweet artistry [in flute playing], [his] thereby attracting those noble women [i.e., the gopīs] into the region of the forest, and [his] similar expertise with speech because of which weeping was resorted to immediately even by them [i.e., the gopīs, once he spoke to them upon their arrival in his midst in the forest], not intensely attract in full?”
rādhādyās tāḥ parama-bhagavatyas tu paty-ātmajādīn
lokān dharmān hriyam api parityajya bhāvaṁ tam āptāḥ |
yenājasraṁ madhura-kaṭukair vyākulās tad-vikārair
mugdhāḥ kiñcit taru-gatim itā nānusandhātum īśāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.147)
“They, the supremely fortunate Rādhā and company, however, have completely relinquished [their] husbands, sons, and so forth, the worlds [i.e., the prospects of conventional weal in this life on Earth and future lives in other planes such as Svarga], duties, and even shyness and reached to that bhāva by which they become as a result of the pungent and sweet transformations thereof constantly unsettled, bewildered, possessed of the condition of trees [i.e., transfixed], and unable to understand anything.”
sva-premāmṛta-kallola-vihvalī-kṛta-cetasaḥ |
sadayaṁ nandayan gopīr udgato nanda-nandanaḥ ||
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.32.1)
“Graciously delighting the gopīs,
They whose hearts were overwhelmed
By the waves of the nectar
Of [their] prema for himself,
The Son of Nanda emerged.”
